Cementing Skill in the Everyday

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This week on the ranch my experiences mostly consisted of things I have already learned and experienced. At this point there wasn’t many things that were knew experiences, however I do think it’s important to continue practicing my daily tasks to cement those skills. The skills I worked on this week were that of moving cattle, leading trail rides, irrigation, and other small daily tasks like feeding horses and helping set up for events at the ranch. On top of that, each week I am able to test my problem solving skills naturally with ranch work, so I can say that I’m also experiencing new mental challenges as well.

One major operation of the ranch that I have been thinking a lot about is the rotational grazing schedule. Rotational grazing, while incorporating flood irrigation, is a highly traditional in this area and specifically for the ranch. Sometimes it seems like the fields are being grazed un-proportionally and I wonder how the best way to manage that and pasture recovery for the most effective use of the land and health of the steers. With a large area of land to manage, I wonder if my manager would consider bringing in other help to be specifically in charge of our rotations to keep things 100%.

After another week of habitual work and general weekly tasks, the questions I have are few and random. I was wondering what the absolute maximum amount of cattle we could take in for the summer and if twenty extra head would even make that much of a difference in the weight gaining/grazing efficiency. Also, I was thinking about how important tradition and history is to the ranch and it makes me wonder if things will continue to be based off of tradition as much as possible or if they eventually want to make some changes to incorporate modern things into the operation. That is a question that I think only time will tell.

My plan moving forward from this week is going to be similar to that of the last few weeks, to just continue to work hard, enjoy my work, and soaking up all of the experience. Also it’s still important to keep asking questions and paying attention to the details and longevity of my work and to not get sucked into going through the motions. Most days aren’t boring around here so I plan to keep enjoying all of my time on the ranch.

Submitted by: Mack Mlnarik
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team